Gai Brodtmann (Canberra, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am pleased once again to stand here tonight to talk about this suite of bills, as I was pleased to be in this chamber earlier today when this House voted on the second reading stage. Before I start, I would just like to take issue with some of the comments made by the member for Riverina. He should not be surprised about that because I do tend to take issue with most things that he says in this House.

First of all, he implored us to do the right thing. I am doing the right thing by supporting this suite of bills. I am a strong supporter of this suite of bills. I have been for a very long time a strong supporter of a clean energy future and for introducing measures to combat climate change. I am doing the right thing, and I am, most importantly, doing the right thing by the will of the Canberra people.

Most of the Canberra people I speak to in my mobile offices when I am out doorknocking and when I am on the phone to them, and in the emails and letters that I get from them, want this legislation. They want a clean energy future for their children. They want a clean energy future for their grandchildren, their children's children. I am doing the right thing, as the member for Riverina implored, and I am doing the right thing by the people of Canberra.

The member for Riverina also mentioned the fact that we need to do the economically and fiscally responsible thing. This is the economically and fiscally responsible thing. This will ensure Australia's continued future prosperity. This will ensure continued jobs. It will ensure continued growth. It will ensure that Australia continues to compete in the world for future generations. It will ensure that this country continues to prosper in the future.

I can now come back to my speech, having addressed those issues that the member for Riverina implored me to do. This week in this chamber we will see a turning point in this nation's future. It will be a week when the rhetoric and posturing will end and members will be asked to cast a vote that will decide whether this country tackles the problem of carbon pollution and embraces a clean energy future. It will decide whether or not this country will ensure a prosperous future for my nieces, my great-nieces, my great-nephews, my godchildren and their godchildren.

It is not over yet—we have still tomorrow to come—but, in getting us to this point, I particularly want to acknowledge and thank the dedicated members of the Public Service. Those opposite will probably scorn the Public Service because they have a strong tradition of doing that. They scorned them so much in 1996 that they sacked tens of thousands of them and sent Canberra into a recession when the rest of Australia was growing. So it would not surprise me if we are going to get public servants abused in the process of this debate tonight. If they ever become a government, they want to sack 12,000 public servants, I think. So we can see what those opposite think of the Public Service, the dedicated public servants who serve this nation fearlessly and tirelessly—the invisible heroes. Tonight I want to acknowledge those invisible heroes and thank them for their service to this country.

Before I was elected last year, I was a consultant. I had my own business and for about three of the years that I was consulting before I was preselected I worked in the Department of Climate Change on the CPRS. So I have seen firsthand the dedication of the public servants who work in that agency, the quality of the advice that they provide and the thankless tasks that at times they had to perform. I saw a man here today whom I remember having a meeting with at 9 am a few years ago. He had actually just come into the office after spending the whole day and night there, working tirelessly trying to ensure a clean energy future and a solution to climate change. He had just gone home, had a shower and come back for another full day's work after working round the clock. This was typical of the work in the department and typical of the dedication of those public servants. I thank them.

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